Over
by Kindredness
Summary: Finally, after many years, RiverClan has found peace. But dark secrets are lurking inside the Clans’ lake home that threaten to ruin their careful serenity. Can one brave cat save the day? Or will the peace, as predicted by StarClan, be over?
1. List of RiverClan Cats

**Welcome to **_**Over**_**! ****This Warriors fanfiction takes place many years into the future of the four Clans at the lake, written post-New Prophecy.**

**It's not the most original thing in the world, but that's no surprise, is it?**

**The**_** Warriors **_**books****belong to Erin Hunter and HyperCollins, not me. This story is merely fanfiction and has no affiliation whatsoever with the above entities.**

**Enjoy! :)**

Cats of RiverClan

**Leader: Goldenstar**: golden she-cat with amber eyes.

**Deputy: Rainclaw**: striped silvery-gray tom.

**Medicine cat: Ivypelt**: light orange, amber-eyed she-cat. Said to have a green glow.  
**Apprentice: Emeraldpaw**

**Warriors**

**Amberleaf:** handsome ginger tom with dark brown eyes

**Turtlecloud**: tabby she-cat with light green eyes.

**Swiftclaw:** dark gray tom with amber eyes.

**Jumpfoot**: gray tom with two white feet and brown eyes.  
**Apprentice: Brownpaw**

**Bluestorm:** handsome blue tom with dark blue eyes.  
**Apprentice: Missingpaw**

**Icewind:** light gray tom with striking blue eyes.

**Lightface:** tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes and black feet.  
**Apprentice: Moonpaw**

**Queens**

**Icywish:** black she-cat with light blue eyes.

**Flowertail:** pale tabby she-cat with gray eyes.

**Elders**

**Starface**: beautiful black she-cat dappled with small gray spots.

**Soiltail:** dark brown, lightly striped tom with light brown eyes.

**Deepthroat:** dark tabby tom with pale blue eyes.

**Apprentices**

**Emeraldpaw:** orange tom with bright green eyes.

**Brownpaw:** small brown tom with dark gray eyes.

**Moonpaw:** large, solid gray apprentice, often mistaken for a warrior.

**Missingpaw: **pretty gray she-cat with green eyes, missing a pupil in her right eye.


	2. Prologue

**A/N: Hi there! I'm Jayla, and this is my first ever fanfiction, dealing with a future version of the clans at the lake. I have worked on this project for some time, and it's a relief to finally publish it. Well, I hope you enjoy!**

**Warriors belongs to Erin Hunter and HyperCollins, not me. Unfortunately for me. :(**

Flames danced through the air, heartily, gladly, smoothly, destroying the forest, slowly erasing the passionate life it held within, with grace and efficiency. Through it all Emeraldpaw carefully walked, pressing his paws to the singed path, his orange pelt shaking. The sky had blackened; the sun had evolved into a scarlet fireball burning away in the sky. A single star floated above in an inky ocean of sky, glittering down at him, suspended by brilliance. And yet he continued, his fear-scent growing stronger, his ivy-tinted eyes as wide as the strangely absent moon.

Through the flames, through the darkness, and through a smell that tore at his nose and danced on his brain, Emeraldpaw walked, until finally reaching a place that he knew quite well-- the RiverClan camp, a serene, triangle-sized stroke of land enclosed by swirling rivers. Except... this couldn't be the RiverClan camp. It couldn't be! For there, where the Nursery was, was only a sliver of shadow; and the river was dried up, nothing but a swirling corpse! Emeraldpaw gasped. This world that he had come to know, to love had been betrayed by fire and mist…

He padded nervously up to the leader's rock, ash and dust muffling his paws, the silence deadening his senses. He reached the rock and then turned to go over to the smoky river, amazed that what had before symbolized hope and freedom for his clan had now been diminished to endless nothing. He watched the scene, frightened: that empty chasm that had once been a river, that midnight sky, the ground, covered in curly cinders and charcoaled ash, and those bent, distorted figures that were once trees, twisted into shapes he could not recollect, silvered, and coated with a sense of ethereal foreboding. Emeraldpaw bowed his head down, letting the little light there was in this silky graveyard spill off of his orange pelt and emerald eyes and bring some color into this bland landscape. A beam of light descended upon him, but then recoiled back onto the ground, as if unwilling, as if having lost all hope. Now he could see that the light was awashed in misery.

Then with a clatter, something clashed, with a sound of metal and pain and fire; the sky split open like glass, and swirls of randomized shapes and colors flew out of the sky. They lunged at Emeraldpaw, and he screamed in the still-silent night. Now the air was filled with a layer of rainbow light, and yet not a sound could be heard but the frightened whimpers of this medicine cat apprentice.

Voices finally rose like smoke as the colors, bright and transparent like colored scarves, began to flicker away. _The peace will be over…_ the voices confided in Emeraldpaw, who had frozen out of a barely-concealed fear, unable to move. _Over, over, over…_ said the voices, and the colors rose up and down and unleashed a noise like waves crashing, but fiercer, and the chaos was overrun, peace came back in waves, painting color back onto the trees and ground… and Emeraldpaw was engulfed in shadow.

**A/N: And that's all for now for my first ever story! It's an awfully short prologue, I know, but it was the best I could do. Hope you enjoyed it! Review if you wish! But… only if you want to. :)**


	3. Chapter One

**A/N Well, here it is! The very first chapter of Over, containing an omen, friendships, and the seed of a legacy. Enjoy.**

**No part of the original Warriors series belongs to me.**

**--Jay**

Chapter One

As the morning sun carefully climbed over the horizon, smiling brightly, wearing its dusky salmon and pearly blue robes, many a cat opened their eyes to a sky being gently painted above them. RiverClan was waking up, for a day just like another… and though the cats were different, they all felt the same sense of warm comfort that that golden chariot of sunshine provided them.

In a shiny, mossy glade known as the Nursery, a soft and welcoming area, one kit, a pure white she-cat, opened her eyes to the pressure of another kit's silvery-blue paws upon her face, lightly tapping her. "Wake up, Dovekit!" the silver-blue kitten yelped, already awake for quite some time, and having paced the shiny steps of the RiverClan nursery longer than Dovekit could imagine. She hazily wiped her large brown eyes with a paw now glistening with sunlight, and greeted her brother with a muffled, "'Lo, Tidekit…", before he tackled her playfully and rolled around with her, his claws unsheathed, but his motions still fierce. Dovekit laughed and returned a few blows before pushing him off her, and then tripping him to gain the upper paw. Their playful antics went normally for several moments, until Tidekit padded over to his brother, who was sleeping silently in a corner of the Nursery, away from the warmth of their mother and the excitement of the play-battle. Dovekit watched, amused, as Tidekit ducked down before pouncing effortlessly upon Overkit, who woke up in an instant. "What's the problem, Tidekit?" He asked, his voice containing all the seriousness of those boring older warriors that Tidefoot disliked.

"Attacks! Vicious enemy cats!" Tidekit raved, punctuating his fantasies with blows from his fluffy paws. "Rogues and raccoons waiting to sink their teeth into your flesh!' Overkit rolled his chestnut eyes briefly before stepping slowly up as Tidekit bounced skyward onto their mother, Flowertail. A giggling Dovekit walked over to him. "What a strange brother we have!" she smiled, her face the epitome of innocence, with that fur like snow, those eyes, deep and soft and brown. She was a beauty, ravishing particularly in comparison to Overkit, who was not quite a sight for sore eyes. He blinked over at her.

"Strange indeed," He nodded. "That brother of ours interrupted a most wonderful dream about the tallest trees in ShadowClan, and the squirrels that live up there. I dreamed that the squirrels were playing and then one fell in the lake, and turned into a beautiful scarlet fish-"

"Where's the fun in that?" Wondered Tidekit out loud from behind, startling Overkit. Tidekit had meant this playfully, but regretted it when he saw the wounded look in his brother's eyes. He shrugged and changed the subject. "Come on, let's play battle!" He cried, pulling a fighting stance. Overkit scowled lightly, looking dejected. "Oh come on!" Continued Tidekit, "I'll be the fierce ShadowClan tom and you can be the loyal RiverClan warrior! It's a fight to the death!" Overkit's chestnut eyes blinked, as if emerging from underwater. "If it makes you happy," He said, and clumsily packed a punch. The two fought in the soft grasses and mosses of the den, lit brightly by that spotlight of a sun.

"What shall I be?" Asked a curious Dovekit who wanted to join in the fun, walking over to them and observing with intent eyes. She didn't even know if the two could hear her, so busily engaged were they.

"Maybe a dead, fallen warrior?" Asked a grumpy voice from behind. _Not a bad idea!_ Contemplated Dovekit, and soon dropped over, sitting motionless. Overkit jumped out of his battle and turned toward the speaker, who had come from the back of the nursery. Somehow, he knew who had proposed such an insulting role to his sister, for only one other kit could pack such a menacing punch into four short words. He and his brother growled and walked towards the perpetrator.

Yes, as they had suspected, it was Sunkit, adorned as usual in his beautiful, orange-striped coat, which sparkled quite charmingly in the sunlight. Though younger than the three siblings, he (along with his sister Twokit) quite enjoyed flaunting himself above Dovekit, Tidekit, and Overkit. Sunkit shook his sparkling fur and walked towards them. Young, only four moons, he was fairly small, but his carriage was impressive as he walked with the pompous and confident manner of princes. Today his face was set to an annoyed scowl. "You woke me up," He snarled, upset, and took another step towards Tidekit and Overkit, causing the former to hiss and spit like a deflating balloon, and the latter to start into a deep, threatening growl. They all walked towards each other.

Dovekit, meanwhile, still lay calmly on the other side of the nursery, without the faintest clue of what was going on.

Behind an alcove of shiny bushes, and across a path set by shimmering stones found in the lake, in the medicine cat's den, Emeraldpaw shivered awake, blinking open eyes as green and bright as the trees around him and surveying them onto his surroundings. No… all seemed normal. There no were no floating shapes of color, and the forest had not been reduced to a shimmering, burnt crisp. No, the floating tendrils of shadows created by the sun in the flickering leaves still glistened with promise, and beside him Ivypelt purred in her sleep, lifting her sleek body slowly up and down. Her rhythmic breath was soothing to Emeraldpaw, and his heartbeat gradually sunk to a normal level.

He walked up to the gathering of herbs that were pressed inside the small, hollow logs inside the den. The arsenal of plants he saw was long and extensive: lavender to yarrow, cobwebs to catnip, each and every plant was before him, and each plant had a purpose. Emeraldpaw shuddered, imagining what would happen if the bounty before him, such an array of bright, bountiful herbs, were burnt down as he had dreamed. It seemed now that he would remember that shadowy flicker of a nightmare – no, an omen – until his death.

His eyelids fluttered delicately, but more from fear than from elegance; he walked along the softly shimmering ground and approached his mentor, nudging her gently with bright orange paws. A suspended moment broke the pattern of her deep breathing, and she shuddered awake, startled, but smiling.

Emeraldpaw was not so cheerful. His face set seriously, his eyes watery, he bowed down his head. "StarClan spoke to me last night," He whispered, each word filled with fear, each syllable carrying the promise of an omen, a sign, a fear to avoid.

Ivypelt nodded, and prepared to receive the news.

The apprentice den, despite the early hour, was already filled with hustle and bustle, mostly by Missingpaw and Brownpaw, who were having a rushed, loud conversation between each other: for there would be a gathering very soon, and their mentors, Bluestorm and Jumpfoot respectively, had decided to bring them along!

"I can't wait to finally meet cats from other clans!" Hurriedly rushed Brownpaw. This was to be his first gathering, and he could hardly contain himself.

Missingpaw smiled, excited for her friend, but happy for herself as well. She hadn't seen her friend Dazzlepaw, from ThunderClan, in quite some time, and it was always exciting to watch the other leaders go about their discussions. She nudged Brownpaw. "I wonder who Slimstar picked as the new ShadowClan deputy," She mewed curiously. The former deputy, Brightclaw, had fallen off a ravine.

Brownpaw blinked. "Surely she's going to be sensible and pick Opentail," He said, "I mean, isn't he supposed to be the bravest Clan cat since Firestar or something?" Brownpaw's voice flickered with the faintest hint of mockery. It was what he did best.

"Yeah, that's what Falconheart and Mistclover said at the last gathering," Missingpaw returned. Her green eyes sparkled inquisitively; the right one was missing a pupil, something she'd been born with. Pupil-less, it was nothing but a large green orb.

"Don't forget, though, Slimstar's anything but sensible," Missingberry muttered, jokingly, and the two erupted into a bountiful, youthful laughter, interrupted only by the occasional loud, grunting snore from Moonpaw, who was still fast asleep in the corner.

A faint scratch mark was heard, and one tabby head poked into the entrance of the den. "Didn't you chatterboxes hear?" Turtlecloud said, in mock upbraiding, "Goldenstar's called a meeting! And for crying out loud, stop laughing like buffoons!"

"Sorry…" muttered Brownpaw apologetically, and prepared to leave. But Missingpaw, as argumentative as ever, stood her ground, and defended herself. "We had no way of knowing she had called a meeting, and there's no code against laughing inside of our den. Next time, perhaps, she must call her meetings more loudly."

Brownpaw gaped indignantly, but Turtlecloud chuckled. "Come on, you two, let's get going," The tabby she-cat instructed. Then she paused. "And someone wake up Moonpaw while you're at it, he probably shouldn't sleep through this, I have a hunch it's rather important."

"We _should_ wake him up, shouldn't we?" Asked Missingpaw slyly. It was apparent to both Turtlecloud and Brownpaw that she intended the opposite. But before a course of action could be decided, Moonpaw shuddered awake, his solid gray fur gruffly shaking off of his strong body. Missingpaw giggled and ran off on the cold steps to where Goldenstar sat on the cold silver rock, and Turtlecloud followed, before shooting Brownpaw a brief look that asked, "Isn't she crazy?" And though Brownpaw didn't say anything in response, his reply was not hard to read: why yes, she's always been like that.

Flowertail had decided to take her three kits to watch the ceremony: they were, after all, five and a half moons old, and soon they would be apprentices. She'd wanted to gradually bring them into clan life, to show them what their new responsibilities would be. It was their first clan gathering, and Tidekit and Dovekit were practically bouncing up and down with delight. Overkit remained calm, but Flowertail could tell that he was excited too, in his own subtle way, even as his eyes glazed over and his mind was somewhere else. She leaned down and gently nuzzled his pale brown fur with her nose. "Don't drift off now," She muttered, and Overkit looked up at her, nodding with this new mission, and sat solemnly, regarding before him as cats came to the center of RiverClan. _Yes,_ Flowertail thought, _He will make a very fine warrior someday… that soul inside of him is so very noble…_She absentmindedly drew Dovekit and Tidekit closer to her flank, not wanting them to run away and drown in the nearby streams, which they probably were excited enough to do. The only thing that could shut them up now was a word from Goldenstar, who had now stood up and was addressing the cats.

"Friends, family of RiverClan," She said, in her honey voice, "Today we have come together because of a new vision and a new prophecy sent to us by StarClan. Though it is not the most cheerful of visions, we must not fear it, and once we interpret its meaning, we must then proceed a course of action without further ado. Please listen and be thinking of what this dream could mean." She bowed her head and stepped back, as the crowd started to murmur uneasily. Tidekit turned to Dovekit, his eyes rounder than ever. "Maybe we're being attacked!" He grinned in earnest. But Dovekit looked downcast. "I don't think it's really something to joke about…" She said quietly, and Tidekit sighed and sat still. "I guess you're right…" He dejectedly grumbled.

As Goldenstar retreated, Emeraldpaw, the nervous medicine cat apprentice, walked unevenly forward. His eyes watched the crowd, blinking rapidly, and his heartbeat was clearly out of control. "Poor thing," Flowertail whispered, in knowing sympathy of the apprentice's nerves. The three kits had finally come to a hush, as had the rest of the Clan. All seemed to be apprehensively watching Emeraldpaw.

Finally, he gulped a deep breath of air, pawed the cold silver stone, and began. "Last night," He uttered, "Star Clan s-s-spoke to me, with a vision. They showed me a land laid waste by fire and e-e-evil, with a night sky as deep as," he licked his muzzle nervously, "ever, and with only one sh-sh-sh-shimmering star." A low hiss of conversation could be heard, but the crowd's eyes were still riveted on Emeraldpaw, who took another breath and continued.

"As I walked- and the ground was covered in c-c-cinders and ash, I began to see that the land was Ri-Ri-RiverClan." His eyes closed in brief recollection, and his tail jerked in the air, as sudden and strange a movement as the quick tongue of a frog reaching out to smother a fly. All the cats were now gasping at the previous statements, and impatiently awaiting more.

Emeraldpaw continued, gaining his bearing, and getting slightly more confident. "Well," he persisted, "I walked along the burnt ground, until all of a sudden, colors appeared before me, almost like solid objects, with shapes and the like. And the colors spoke to me." Emeraldpaw set his eyes dead on the back of the crowd. "They s-said," He exhaled, "'_The peace will be over.' _And then the colors spun around and the forest suddenly turned green again, and then, and then… I woke up." His story finished, Emeraldpaw shakily turned around to return to whence he had come.

Goldenstar stepped on to the cold silver rock, quieting the crowd with a flick of her head. "We must not be hasty," She said. "Who can think of an interpretation for Emeraldpaw's dream?"

Deepthroat, an elder, snorted lightly. "It's pretty obvious, isn't it?" He grumbled, with a toss of his old tabby head. "The peace will be over, and the forest will burn into flames. How lovely."

Goldenstar upbraided him with a stern look, but Rainclaw, the clan deputy, continued. "I think Deepthroat is right," He solemnly stated. "This doesn't really leave much to be imagined. It's a tale of coming apocalypse."

"That's not necessarily true!" A disagreeing female voice said. The crowd, in its entirety, turned to face the bright apprentice Missingpaw. Beside her, Brownpaw slowly nudged away, not wishing to be condemned by association. "I mean, in the dream, bad turned to good, and as soon as that was said, everything was fixed, right?" Emeraldpaw, from the shadows, gave a hesitant nod.

"So it's a positive message," She said firmly, smiling, feeling like she'd laid down the facts satisfactorily enough.

But the crowd didn't agree. They were shaking their heads in disbelief, and Deepthroat was rolling his eyes, muttering, "That girl is nothing but trouble." Goldenstar flicked her tail and called for silence. "Then what do you propose of the statement 'the peace will be over'?" She asked, not annoyed, merely interested.

A shameless Missingpaw shrugged, although gratified by her leader's fairness. "Don't we have a kit named Overkit? Couldn't that-"

"Preposterous." Sighed Deepthroat, and the warrior Jumpfoot shook his head. Every cat in the clan seemed to chuckle, except perhaps Goldenstar.

"I don't see why you're ridiculing her idea!" Came the voice of Turtlecloud, who had a soft spot for young Missingpaw. _How dare they be so unwilling to listen?_ She thought, and glared at all around.. But she seemed to be in the minority. Noises of laughter rocked the clan, and Missingpaw shrank down to the size of a kit, humiliated. Finally, Rainclaw broke the silence.

"I believe we all agree what this prophecy means?" He asked, in his deep, commanding voice. The clan made noises of agreement. Only Missingpaw opened her mouth in retaliation, but Turtlecloud and Brownpaw shushed her. The cats started to intermingle and leave, and Goldenstar turned around to dismiss them.

"Wait!" A cry broke the hushed conversation, and Ivypelt ran atop the cold silver stone. All was silent; the crowd watched her reproachfully. Her pale pelt cast a greenish glow over the crowd, and the air was thick, and quiet. Cats alike looked up at her.

"I don't think we should be certain about this." The medicine cat looked every cat in the eye. "I know the ways of StarClan, and their messages are not always as they seem. No matter how ridiculous it sounds, Missingpaw could be right." She nodded to the gray apprentice, who wasn't sure whether to be proud or ashamed.

"Well then, what do you propose?" Asked Goldenstar, her voice serene and earthy.

"StarClan often follows up with other prophecies." Spoke the medicine cat. "Emeraldpaw and I shall await further messages before settling on an interpretation."

Goldenstar nodded. "That sounds appropriate." She turned to her clan. "Very well. Return to your business this morning, while we wait for another prophecy." She turned… and left.

As the crowd dispersed, the three kits returned to their nursery, bristling in surprise. "Wow, you're going to be a hero!" Shouted Tidekit, and Dovekit nodded earnestly. Overkit sighed. "They wouldn't make a prophecy about some kit." His words, though quiet, were troubled. "I think we really did just hear about RiverClan's impending doom."

"Oh for StarClan's sake, stop being so mouse-brained." Giggled Dovekit, playfully nudging him in the shoulder. But Overkit was busy, already deep inside his own mind. That prophecy couldn't possibly pertain to him; it would be stupid if it did. But still, in his head strange thoughts bred: that he could be a hero, could become a deputy, and then even leader of RiverClan. He didn't like these thoughts at all, and shooed them from his brain. But still, what if? He would defend his clan righteously, he knew. Somehow Overkit felt called to this notion. He couldn't escape that he wanted to be a strong, powerful leader.

Overkit bent down his head. The green light of newleaf floated around the air, and the forest was blooming. But also blooming in his head was an adventure, an idea, a spark of a wish that took root in his brain, and started to blossom. This, he decided, was Overkit's Legacy. He closed his eyes and started to take a midmorning nap, confident.

Peace settled.

**A/N: Well, that was my very first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. :) I can safely say there is a lot in store for future chapters: scandal in ShadowClan, several new apprentices, a cat who's not really a cat—and death. Thanks for reading, and feel free to review!**


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